Hydragood!

 Our much loved President and Sister Bushi asked us to accompany them to Hyderabad for 4 days to attend the Zone outing and participate in Zone conference and the orientation of 1 single incoming missionary, Elder Massey.

While waiting for our flight out on November 1st, we got the wonderful news that Kinzi had avoided a C-section and had given birth to her and Tom's precious baby son, Luke, which for them in Idaho time was Halloween night. How grateful we were that Kinzi's heart did fine through the labor and delivery. Luke is healthy and now we have another mission grandson as a fruit for all her labors!

                Rob has 3rd generation DNA!

             Luke Moroni Kunzler born Oct. 31

Back to November 1st in India, as it turned out, with much confusion of keys and logistics, we were housed in a vacant apartment too far from any of the mission action to be of any actual help. So pretty much it was a 4 day holiday for us with no real responsibilities other than to just be with the young missionaries, which is actually our favorite reason of all. So we spent our first night there with two sister missionaries who were flying home, having completed their missions.  

Well done, Sisters Mogali and Tamalapakula!

The apartment, which had been vacant for awhile, held many unique surprises.

Baby pigeons on the kitchen window ledge...

...and an archaic elevator reminiscent of the one in Thoroughly Modern Millie, that literally had to be stomped on occasionally to start it moving. It haunted us all night long. As we tried to sleep, we kept hearing a woman's voice repeat the same phrase in Telugu, accompanied by bizarre background music. We couldn't figure it out and thought it was coming possibly from the business next door? Next morning we realized that if the two gates on the elevator door aren't pushed closed tight, a recording plays continuously until you do. I guess the other tenants have tuned it out long ago along with all the other cacophony but we heard this annoying mantra loud and clear all night.

Elevator tap-dancing ala Millie Dilmount

Our friend Brother Bunga that we met while doing the online Emotional Resilience class together, lives in Hyderabad and he took us on a grand tour of his city the next day, highlighting the diverse areas and sights of the town. We covered a lot of territory, from Hi-Tech City, to the ancient Muslim quadrant of Charminar with it's open markets and mosque. Using the Metro, we were mostly able to avoid the crowded street traffic for the sites we visited. He kept apologizing that we were walking so much but we told him that's our favorite mode of transportation. 

                 Brother Bunga in the Junga

           Something fishy about this building

Look again, this replica's made entirely of computer components. That bytes!

                   The real Charminar by Day

                  Even more charming at night

                A city on a hill that can't be hid

                  Let your light so shine, India!

India has a thing about gold statues, you see them on practically every major street corner in every city.

        This guy looks to have a little umbrella

Often they're festooned with garlands  

   But this was the biggest granddaddy of them, all 125 feet of him on a 50 foot platform

 Looks a little like my dad and larger than life!

Brother Madhu also introduced us to a new cuisine called Mundi that quickly jumped to our #1 position of favorite foods. It is a staple of the Muslim community but we had never even heard of it before in Coimbatore or Bengalore. 

Mundi, Mundi, so good to me.

We can't begin to thank this dear friend for his generosity in taking us to so many places. He's a friend for the eternities  

Madhu Bunga- The Yul Brynner of Hyderabad 

The next day, we joined the Bushis, the 6 elders, and Micheal from the office for a day of fun at Ramoji Film City, a wannabe facsimile of Universal Studios. 4 of the elders we knew very well and it was a grand reunion with 3 of them from our original Stripling Warriors band.

Elder Nepali, you guessed it, from Nepal, was brand new to us and he was immediately charming, funny, outgoing, and an awesome singer and actor to boot. How could you not just adore him right away?  

Q. Where'd you get the cool T? 

One-day old greenie Elder Massey however,  brought out the maternal instinct in me. 

He's the sweetest Quasimodo-like elder, sometimes shy and  introverted, sometimes trying a little too hard to fit in. He's still finding his way so I gave him some focused attention by getting to know him as we walked from photo op to photo op. 

His family story nearly broke my heart with all it's trials, and I was touched by his conversion and his faith. He told me he's talented in art of all mediums, sketching, cartooning, watercolors and oils. Though he won't overtly use those talents during his missionary service, I hope his companion and district can provide him Christlike love and help him succeed as a missionary. Rob says it won't take long for a group of peers to "teach him the ways of the pack" so I hope and pray he will, with the promised strength of the Savior, rise to his full stature and become the best version of himself. 

Lean on us, brudda.

We're all in this together

After 7 months here, I fulfilled one of my India bucket list dreams of seeing live traditional folk dance. Both the opening and closing spectaculars featured beautiful costume and dance and we got to see it up close and personal from the front row. 

I was in my favorite element, loving every minute of it. But I was caught off guard when during the evening show they pulled me up out of the audience to dance with the emcee. My days of wanting to be on center stage are over! When he asked me what my name was I couldn't even remember my first name and told him I was Sister Dunlap. That was the end of my stage career in India. Just as well.

The shows and presentations we saw were legion, including the hilariously inaccurate Wild West show, 

Nothing says Wild West like Mad Max and Asian martial arts.

But a grand time was had by all. Here's a few outtake and blooper shots that will just end up on the cutting floor if I don't squeeze them in somehow. 

Toe jam?

The Chains of Hell are sin and death

Nothing could go wrong here

Love, it's a growing thing

The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak before kings and rulers. And inasmuch as they are humble, they might be made strong.

Doctrine & Covenants 1: 19, 23, 28